Solar heat collector assembly

ABSTRACT

A solar heat collector assembly including a heat collector plate, a base for accommodating therein the heat collector plate, and a top cover for joining with the base for housing the heat collector plate. The base is made of a foamed resinous material and is provided with a latticed configuration which defines a plurality of cavities therein. The top cover is provided a number of air cavities serving as heat insulators.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 485,296 filedon Apr. 15, 1983, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a solar heat collector assembly, andmore particulary to an improved solar heat collector assembly.

A conventional type of solar heat collector assembly comprises a basemade by a box-like extrusion of Aluminum with an open top surface foraccommodating therein one heat collector plate, and a top cover made oftransparent glass, sealed on the open top surface of the base.

To avoid heat radiation from a bottom surface of the base, a heatinsulating material such as a glass wool or the like is laid on thebottom surface of the base.

Since the heat insulating material is additionally required, theassembly is made heavy as a result.

Accordingly, the number of solar heat collector assemblies laying on theroof are limited, and it takes time to lay the assemblies on the roof.

Further, the cost of the heat collector assembly becomes expensivebecause of the use of extruded Aluminum and the glass plates as buildingmaterials.

Therefore, heat collector assemblies made of various plastic materialsare offered in order to reduce the weight of the whole assembly orreduce its price.

But, the prior art heat collector assemblies are complex and expensive,or otherwise their heat collecting efficiency is low.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide animproved solar heat collector assembly which overcomes the aboveproblems with prior art devices.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improvedlight solar heat collector.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improvedsolar heat collector comprising a heat-insulating base.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improvedsolar heat collector assembly which has a similar heat collectingefficiency as that of the prior art device, the same strength of theprior art device, and is one-half the weight of the prior art device.

Other objects and further scope of applicability of the presentinvention will become apparent from the detailed description givenhereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detaileddescription of and specific examples, while indicating preferredembodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only,since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope ofthe invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from thisdetailed description.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a solar heatcollector assembly comprises a heat collector plate, a base foraccormmodating therein the heat collector plate, and a top cover forjointing with the base. The base is made of a foamed resin material witha lattice configuration and having a plurality of concavites therein.

The top cover is provided a number of air cavities, each serving as aheat insulator.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be better understood from the detaileddescription given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which aregiven by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of thepresent invention and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of a solar heat collector assemblyaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the solar heat collector assembly of FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective side view of a heat collector plate of the solarheat collector assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial cross sectional view of the solar heat collectorassembly as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view of a solar heat collector assemblyaccording to an another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 shows the base for accommodating the heat collector; and

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the base rib structure of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1 to 4 illustrate a solar heat collector assembly constructedaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. The solar heatcollector assembly 1 generally includes a base 2 of a box-likeconfiguration with an open top surface for accommodating therein oneheat collector plate 100 of a known structure (as shown in FIG. 3), areverse "U" shaped top cover 3 of a proper plastic material provided forensuring efficient collection of solar heat and minimization of heatloss to the surrounding atomosphere, and a pair of groove members 4 and4' of an "S" sharped transverse cross section for joining the top cover3 to the base 1. The top cover 3 contains a number of air cavities eachserving as a heat insulator as shown in FIG. 4 for increasing the heatinsulating eficiency.

There are further provided a pair of box-like edge covers 5 and 5'fitted at the left and right edges of the heat collector assembly 1,header pipes 6 for water conduits within the heat collector plates andfixtures 7.

The base 2 is made of a proper heat insulating material, preferably afoamed plastic material such as a foamed polystyrene resin, a foamed ABSresin, a foamed polyurethane resin, a foamed poyester resin and a foamedpolyester resin with moderate expansion and contraction due to atemperature change to reduce the weight of the whole assembly. The leftand right walls 8 and 8' of the base 2 are similar in shape to the topcover 3 of the reverse "U" cross section so that they are maintainedwith close contact with the left and right inside edges of the top cover3. Formed in the neighborhood of the front and back walls 9 and 9' ofthe base 2 are slots 10 which receive the header pipes 6 leading to thewater conduits in the heat collector plates.

The two groove members 4 and 4' are snugly fitted around the front andback walls 9 and 9' of the base 2 and take the same shape andconfiguration. The following is an explanation of the front groovemember 4 only for the convenience of illustration. The groove member 4is curved which is defined by a partition 11 of the same length as thatof the base 2 and bears substantially the "S" shaped transverse crosssection having a downward-oriented inside groove 12 and anupward-oriented outside groove 13. In addition, slots 14 are perforatedto align with those 10 in the base 2 in the neighborhood of the left andright edges of the partition 11. The downward groove 12 has the samelength as the distance between the left and right walls 8 and 8' of thebase 2, while the upward groove 13 has the same length as the distancebetween the slots 14. Openings 15 are provided for the fixtures 7. Anear 16 is inwardly directed to prevent ingress of water and is springlyheld in pressure contact with the outer surface of the front wall of thetop cover 3.

Openings 13_(a) of about 5-6 mm in diameter are suitably provided to letwater out of the upward grooves 13 and 13' in the bottom edge of theupward grooves 13 and 13'.

The rear groove member 4' is synmetrical with the front groove menber 4.The top cover 3 has the same length as that of the base 2 and takes thereverse "U" cross section as described above. Preferably, the top cover3 is an integrally formed plastic member having a number of air cavitieseach serving as a heat insulator as illustrated in FIG. 4. Left andright edge slots 18 and 18' which correspond to the slots 10 and 10' and14 and 14' are provided in the neighborhood of the front and back walls17 and 17' of the cover 3.

Lower portions of the front and back walls 17 and 17' of the top cover 3are formed with openings 19 and 19' to align with openings 15 and 15'for the fixtures.

The following description shows that to assemble the base 2, the topcover 3 and the groove members 4 and 4'. The front and back walls 9 and9' of the base 2 are fitted within the downward grooves 12 and 12' ofthe respective groove members. The inner surfaces of the left and rightedges of the top cover 3 are placed on the left and right walls 8 and 8'of the base 2. The front and back walls 17 and 17' of the top cover 3are then closely fitted in the outside upward grooves 13 and 13' of therespective groove members. Under the circumstances, the base 2 and thetop cover 3 are joined by means of the fixtures screwed into theopenings 15 and 19. A Water Hermetic seal is completed by mounting theedge covers 5 and 5' on the left and right edges of the assembly andfixing the same by means of the fixtures 7. The resulting solar heatcollector assembly is illustrated in a perspective view of FIG. 1.

In assembling these shell components, internal components including theheat collector plates 100, the header pipes 6, the heat insulator 20,etc. should be held in proper positions on the base 2.

The front and back walls 17 and 17' of the top cover 3 are closelyfitted with the outside surface of partions 11 and 11' about 30-40 mmfrom their end edges. The end edges of the front and back walls 17 and17' are left about 5-10 mm from the bottom portion of the grooves 13 and13'.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment wherein an upper portion of the frontand back walls of the base 2 has an upward extension of an arch-shapedcross section to tightly secure the fixtures of the groove members andthe top cover. A metal-made bottom plate 21 is additionally provided andsecured on the bottom of the base 2 by means of screws 22 inserted intothe bottom of the groove member 4', thus enhancing the strength of thewhole solar heat collector assembly 1.

The base 2 of the present invention is shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 7 is across sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 6.

Latticed ribs 21 are projected all over the oven bottom surface 22 ofthe base 2.

When the thinkness T of the base 2 is more than about 10 mm, the heightT' of one of the ribs 21 is preferably about 5-10 mm. The sectional planof the rib 21 is a trapezoid.

The width X of one of the ribs 21 projected on the oven bottom surface22 of the base 2 as shown FIG. 6, is preferably about 10-20 mm.

The width X' of one of the rectangular concaveties 22 which aresurrounded with the ribs 21, is preferably about 20-70 mm, and thelength Y of one of the concaveties 22 is preferably about 60-120 mm.

When the base 2 is made of the foamed styrene resin, a heat-resistinggrade resin for withstanding a high temperature at about 100° C., normalgrade resins for withstanding a temperature at about 80° C., anonflammable grade resins for withstanding more than about 100° C., canall be used as the material of the base 2.

If the base 2 is made only of the foamed styrene resin, a low-foamedresin having an expansion of 10 times is preferable because of thestrength of the base 2.

In the case where the base 2 is made of a foamed styrene resin with anexpansion of 30-40 times, an Aluminum plate, a stainless steel plate, ora surface treated color steel plate of 0.1-0.3 mm in thinkness iscombined with the base 2 on the outside and oven the bottom surfacethereof and around the surrounding surfaces of the base 2 for enhancingthe strength of the base 2. Since acrylic type paints of enamel color issuitable for weather proofing and tight coupling, being fitted to afoamed styrene resin, they can be coated with about 10-20 μmm inthinkness on those portions of the base 2 which are exposed to theoutside.

According to the present invention, the base is made of a foamed resinmaterial which is rather light, and the latticed ribs are prrojected onthe oven bottom surface of the base by forming the concavites 22 tothereby reduce the total weight of the base 2 while maintaining itsstrength.

The solar heat collector of the present invention is lighter than theprior art devices which is made by the extrusion of Aluminum and has asimilar weight-resistance and strength of the prior art devices.

Accordingly, many solar heat collector assemblies can be disposed on aroof so that it does not take time to lay the assemblies on the roofbecause of lightness.

According to the test of the present inventor, the weight of the solarheat collector assembly of the present invention is half as light as theweight of the prior art device. For example, the weight of the assemblyof the present invention is about 12Kg/m², whereas the weight of similarsized prior art devices is about 25Kg/m².

Because the base is made of the foamed resin material, the heatcollector assembly is inexpensive in comparision with the prior artdevices which are made by the extrusion of Aluminum. The cost of thesolar collector assembly can be reduce in comparision with the cost ofprior art devices and, foamed resin materials have the function of heatinsulating according the present invention.

An additional heat insulating material such as glass wool or the likedoes not need to lay on the oven bottom surface of the base 2. Theinvention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may bevaried in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as adeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all suchmodifications are intended to be included within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A solar heat collector assembly comprising incombination:a heat collector means, a top cover means for the heatcollector means, and a base means for accommodating said heat collectormeans made of a foamed resinous heat insulating material, said basemeans having a latticed rib configuration extending therefrom, saidlatticed rib configuration comprising a multiplicity of ribs defining aplurality of rectangularly shaped concavities therebetween wherein saidtop cover means joins with said base means in housing said heatcollector means, said top cover means containing a plurality of aircavities which serve as heat insulators for increasing the heatinsulating efficiency of said assembly,wherein the height of the ribs isabout one-half to about the same size as the thickness of the base fromwhich the ribs extend and the width of the ribs projected on the bottomsurfaces of the base means is about the same size and up to about twicethe size of the thickness of the base.
 2. The solar heat collectorassembly of claim 1 wherein the ribs have a trapezoidal configuration.3. The solor heat collector assembly of claim 1 wherein saidrectangularly shaped concavities have a length up to about 6 times thewidth.